A Very Boring, Colorless Kingdom
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 1 Corinthians 1:10 NIV
Once upon a time there was a magical kingdom where everyone agreed on everything. Every peasant, knight, and royal baker enjoyed the same stories, played the same games (following the same rules), and enjoyed the same food. Every election, the winning candidate won unanimously. Even the people who lost didn’t vote for themselves.
It was a very boring, colorless kingdom.
Diversity of attraction, taste and opinion fills our community with novelty and excitement. It adds flavor to the cold stew of our lives. It is the cornerstone of learning. Given all that, why would Paul tell the folks in Corinth — and so fervently — that they all must “agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you…”? Maybe he simply likes cold stew.
His point wasn’t that every follower of Jesus agree on everything, only on what matters. In later verses he talks about infighting within the house churches over who was the better leader (Paul, Apollos, Peter (aka “Cephas”). In today’s world, from minor matters of baptism style (infant or adult, full immersion or sprinkling over the head), to intense arguments over who even should be allowed through the front doors, we spend our time debating (and for some of you, these debates use up all of your spiritual energy) over matters that don’t matter when compared to how best can we help every person follow the one true King, Jesus.
This is the beauty of our Connect 4 groups. Within our small corner of God’s Kingdom, many of us are now getting together every week to study the Word and point each other towards Jesus. As we do this, we learn more about each other’s likes and dislikes, music and food preferences, even who puts on one sock and one shoe first before moving to the other foot. We revel in, laugh about and at times get annoyed by each other’s differences. It is these differences, however, that over time reveal our hearts. When you and I get to know and love these real people sitting down with us, we finally understand that there is, truly, one important goal in life: to work out the best path for each of us to follow Jesus into eternity.
These paths are paved one verse, one conversation, one prayer given or received, at a time. It’s a lifetime journey. Many of us have been trying to lay down these stones by ourselves. The best gift you and I can receive is to allow a brother or sister to walk alongside us; someone who will keep us aimed in the right direction; someone who will learn from us as we learn from them.
At the same time, we can also debate Larry Bird versus Magic Johnson, Camille Pissarro versus Claude Monet, or if Han shot first.
As long as we remember that, in the end, the one thing we must agree on is to stay on the path that leads to Jesus... and do it together.